Tomorrow, SpartanTHON will host its annual dance marathon, SpartanTHON. Their signature event is a 12-hour marathon of music, dancing and performances, all held to benefit the children at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.

This year’s SpartanTHON marks the fourth dance marathon held by the organization and the third held to benefit Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals. The event will be held from 2 p.m. tomorrow until 2 a.m. on Sunday morning in the Veale Gymnasium.

Participants in the event, named “dancers” and “moralers” after their respective roles during the night, are all required to raise donations prior to the event from friends and family to contribute to the group total. So far, participants have raised over $15,000 towards SpartanTHON’s $25,000 goal.

The marathon promises to be one of the biggest dance marathons at Case Western Reserve University to date, with twice the projected number of dancers than last year and an estimated attendance of 300 students.
Dancers at the event will hopefully not grow tired of the music for long. Every two hours, the theme of the music changes and a new section of the year’s morale dance will be taught. Themed hours this year include a beach hour, reality TV hour, Wild West hour, a throwback hour, a movie hour, an inspiration hour and a rave hour. Three DJs will provide the music at the event: DJ Troika, the Koolaid Men and Paul Farrah.

Several performance groups will perform at the event as well, including Case in Point, Spartan Dance Team, Brendan Hearn, Case Juggling Team, Spartan Cheerleaders, Case Kismat and Urban Elements. Plenty of food will be available at SpartanTHON as well, including Tropical Smoothie, Chipotle, Mitchell’s and Qdoba. Qdoba will also be premiering two new quesos at the event. Dancers will be provided food free of charge, while moralers and visitors will need to purchase tickets to get food.

SpartanTHON, in all its preparation, has not forgotten whom they support. Miracle families, those who have benefitted directly from SpartanTHON’s fundraising, will also appear at the event. Periodically throughout the night, three miracle families will share their stories with the participants.

The money raised by SpartanTHON all goes through CMN directly to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, providing extra care to kids who need it and providing anything extra needed to help kids stuck in a hospital.

“They help make the hospital a better place to be in, rather than just a bed and a room,” said SpartanTHON Entertainment Chair Lindsey Burrow.

The event has been quite successful in the past, bringing in $18,000 last year alone. With a much larger backing from student organizations and a stronger presence on campus in general, SpartanTHON has become a very successful charitable event.

“It’s a way to give back to people who work hard to save future generations,” said SpartanTHON Morale Committee member Abby Miklosovic. “These kids are miracles.”